Abstract:
While host states interest in concluding BITs is to have the BIT that incorporates terms that
empower them to effectively regulate foreign investments situated in them, the home states interest
on the other hand is to limit the regulatory power of host states over their investments situated
abroad even up to taking away the inherent sovereign power of the host states of protecting their
essential security interests. Ethiopia is one among the least developed countries of the world and
parties to many bilateral investment treaties with various countries across the globe. A systematic
analysis into the terms of all BITs concluded by Ethiopia reveals a serious issue of not uniformly
incorporating terms that will allow the government of the country to exercise its essential security
interests on the one hand, and protect the interests of foreign investor concerning their
investments, on the other hand.
The research seeks to employ the doctrinal research method. It analyzes BITs concluded by
Ethiopia in line of their regulation of essential security interests of the country with the objective
of addressing three main questions; how the contemporary international investment agreements
strike balance between the foreign investor need of protection for their investment and host
countries power of exercising their regulatory power of essential security interests? How BITs
concluded by Ethiopia accommodate the sovereign power of the regulatory space of essential
security interests of the country without violating the BIT obligations entered into? And finally,
how other countries regulate their essential security interests in line with their BIT obligations
they concluded with other countries? By analyzing all Ethiopian BITs and laws with different
literatures and some countries Model BITs concerning essential security interests with current hot
argument of developing countries in the way the international investment concept reframed to
strike balance the two contradicting interests of host and home countries. The thesis concludes
that the majority of Ethiopian BITs do not protect the essential security interest, hence, the study
forwards recommendations for the country to terminate all BITs that do not recognize the state’s
inherent power to protect its essential security interests, and to adopt a Model BIT.
